The Life of Abraham Lincoln (Arnold)/Chapter IV

During these years in the State Legislature, Lincoln had written and delivered various occasional addresses, which, in the light of his subsequent history, are curiously significant.

On the 27th of January, 1837, he read before the Young Men's Lyceum at Springfield, and at the request of that body, an address on the "Perpetuation of our Political Institutions." Also at the request of the young men composing the association he furnished a copy of this address for publication, and it may be found in the Weekly Journal, then published at Springfield. He was not at that time twenty-eight years old, and taking into consideration his early life and education, it is very remarkable as a literary effort. As such it would do credit to any college graduate. It is also the speech of a young statesman who has already reflected deeply upon our institutions and the dangers to which they are to be exposed. It is the speech of an ardent patriot, glowing with an enthusiastic love of liberty and of country. The language is impassioned and poetic, and as compared with the more sober and chastened efforts of later years, is especially interesting. It begins as follows:

"In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American people, find our account running under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era. We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or the establishment of them; they are a legacy bequeathed to us by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed race of ancestors.

"Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves us, of this goodly land, and to rear upon its hills and valleys a political edifice of liberty and equal rights: 'tis ours only to transmit these, the former unprofaned by the foot of the invader; the latter undecayed by the lapse of time. This, our duty to ourselves and to our posterity, and love for our species in general, imperatively require us to perform.

"How then shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some trans-atlantic military giant to step across the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us, it must spring up among us. It can not come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide...

"There is even now something of ill omen among us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions in lieu of the sober judgment of courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community, and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence to deny."

He then proceeds to recite various instances of violation of law, and mob violence, and recalls the shocking case of negro burning at St. Louis, in these words:

"Turn then to that horror striking scene at St. Louis. A single victim only was sacrificed there. His story is very short, and is perhaps the most highly tragic of anything of its length, that has ever been witnessed in real life. A mulatto man, by the name of McIntosh, was seized in the street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a tree, and actually burned to death. And all within a single hour from the time he had been a free man, attending to his own business. and at peace with the world..."

"I know the American people are much attached to their government. I know they would suffer much for its sake. I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affection from the government is the natural consequence, and to that sooner or later it must come.

"Here, then, is one point at which danger may be expected. The question recurs, How shall we fortify against it? The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the revolution, never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of 'seventy-six' did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and the Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;--let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, spelling books and in almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And in short, let it become the political religion of the nation."

"There is," says he, "no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob-law." He then points out the dangers threatening our institutions, from military leaders and reckless ambition, and continues thus:

"Many great and good men, sufficiently qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever be found, whose ambition would aspire to nothing beyond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair. But such belong not to the family of the lion, or the brood of the eagle. What? Think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never! Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinction in adding story to story, upon the monuments of fame, erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief.  It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious.  It thirsts and burns for distinction, and if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves, or enslaving free men. Is it unreasonable, then, to expect that some men, possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time spring up among us? And when such a one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his design.

"Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, yet that opportunity being passed, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would sit down boldly to the task of pulling down. Here then is a probable case, highly dangerous, and such a one as could not have well existed heretofore..."

Alluding to our revolutionary ancestors, he says:

"'In history, we hope they will be read of, and recounted, so long as the Bible shall be read. But even granting that they will, their influence can not be what it heretofore has been. Even then, they can not be so universally known, nor so vividly felt, as they were by the generation just gone to rest. At the close of that struggle, nearly every adult male had been a participator in some of its scenes. The consequence was, that of those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a son, or a brother, a living history was to be found in every family--a history bearing the indubitable testimonies to its own authenticity, in the limbs mangled, in the scars of wounds received in the midst of the very scenes related; a history, too, that could be read and understood alike by all, the wise and the ignorant, the learned and the unlearned. But those histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength; but what the invading foemen could never do, the silent artillery of time has done--the leveling of its walls. They are gone. They were a forest of giant oaks; but the resistless hurricane has swept over them. and left only, here and there a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its foliage; unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few more gentle breezes, and to combat with its mutilated limbs a few more ruder storms, then to sink and be no more.'"

The figure of the "forest of giant oaks," and the effects upon it of time and tempest is a very striking one. That is also a curious passage in which he speaks of the ambitious man, who will seek glory and distinction, and who will have it by "the emancipating of slaves," or "enslaving freemen." Was that intense ambition of his, of which there exists so many evidences, and that mysterious presentiment that in some unknown way he was to be the deliverer of the slaves, the inspiration of the language quoted?

There is another very remarkable speech of his, made in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in December, 1839, in reply to Douglas, Lamborn, and Calhoun. A joint discussion was arranged between the democratic and whig parties. Stephen A. Douglas, John Calhoun, Josiah Lamborn, and Jesse B. Thomas spoke for the democrats, and Stephen T. Logan, Edward D. Baker, Orville H. Browning, and Lincoln for the whigs. It was continued from evening to evening, an advocate of each party speaking alternately, until Lincoln's turn came to close the discussion. In reply to Mr. Lamborn, who taunted the opponents of Van Buren with the hopelessness of their struggle, Lincoln exclaimed:

"'Address that argument to cowards, and knaves. With the free and the brave it will effect nothing. It may be true; if it must, let it. Many free countries have lost their liberties, and ours may lose hers, but if she shall, let it be my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her.'"

Alluding to the denunciation and persecution heaped upon those who opposed the administration, he says: "Bow to it I never will," and then in a prophetic spirit, with impassioned eloquence, he dedicated himself to the cause of his country:

"'Here, before Heaven, and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause of the land of my life, my liberty. and my love... The cause approved of our judgment and our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in death, we never faltered in defending.'"

On the 22d of February, 1842, he delivered before the Washingtonian Temperance Society, at Springfield, an address upon temperance. It is calm, earnest, judicious, and it is difficult to find anywhere the subject treated with more ability, or with a finer spirit. "When," says he, "the victory shall be complete, when there shall be neither a slave nor a drunkard on the earth, how proud the title of that land which may claim to be the birth-place and cradle of those resolutions that shall have ended in that victory." He was already dreaming, it would seem, of the time when there should be no slave in the republic.

Wishing to devote his time exclusively to his profession, he did not, as has already been stated, seek in 1840 re-election to the Legislature. He had been associated as partner with one of the most prominent lawyers at the capital of the state, and he himself was the leader of his party, and altogether the most popular man in Central Illinois. In August, 1837, Stuart, his partner, was elected to Congress over Stephen A. Douglas, after one of the severest contests which ever occurred in the state. The district then extended from Springfield to Chicago, and embraced nearly all the northern part of Illinois. Stuart was re-elected in 1839. Their partnership terminated on the 14th day of April, 1841, and on the same day Lincoln entered into a new partnership with Judge Stephen T. Logan, one of the ablest and most successful lawyers of the state, and at that time universally recognized as at the head of the bar at the capital.

In 1840, Lincoln was on the "Whig Electoral Ticket," as candidate for state presidential elector. This was the presidential canvass known as the "Log Cabin" campaign, which resulted in the election of General Harrison. It was one of the most exciting since the organization of the government. Log cabins for political meetings, with the traditional gourd in place of the mug for cider, hanging on one side of the door, and the coon-skin nailed to the logs on the other, sprang up like magic, not only on the frontier and over all the West, but in every city, town, village and hamlet at the East. Lincoln entered into the contest with great ardor, and "stumped" the state for his party, and in many parts of it he and Douglas held joint political discussions. In this way they traveled the large circuit of Judge Treat, speaking together at every county seat in the circuit.

A great whig meeting was held at the capital in June, to which the people came in throngs from every part of Illinois. Chicago sent a large delegation, which brought as a representative of the commercial capital, a full rigged ship on wheels. The delegation were supplied with tents and provisions, and plenty of cider, and at night, camped out like an army on the prairies. Their camp-fires illuminated the groves, and their campaign songs echoed and resounded all the way from Lake Michigan to the Illinois and the Sangamon. At this great meeting, all the leading whig orators spoke. Among them were Lincoln, Baker, and Logan, of Springfield; Harden, of Morgan; Browning, of Quincy, and Butterfield and Lisle Smith, of Chicago. For argument and apt illustration, the palm was generally given to Lincoln, but he himself said that no one could be compared to a young lawyer from Chicago, whose name was Lisle Smith.

It was during the canvass of 1840 that Lincoln protected Baker from a mob which threatened to drag him off the stand. Baker was speaking in a large room, rented and used for the court sessions, and Lincoln's office was in an apartment over the court room, and communicating with it by a trap-door. Lincoln was in his office, listening to Baker through the open trap-door, when Baker, becoming excited, abused the democrats, many of whom were present. A cry was raised, "Pull him off the stand!" The instant Lincoln heard the cry, knowing a general fight was imminent, his athletic form was seen descending from above through the opening of the trap-door, and springing to the side of Baker, and waving his hand for silence, he said with dignity: "Gentlemen, let us not disgrace the age and country in which we live. This is a land where freedom of speech is guaranteed. Baker has a right to speak, and a right to be permitted to do so. I am here to protect him, and no man shall take him from this stand if I can prevent it." Quiet was restored, and Baker finished his speech without further interruption.

In 1839, Miss Mary Todd came from Lexington, Kentucky, to Springfield, on a visit to her sister, Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, who was the daughter of the Hon. Robert S. Todd, of Kentucky. In 1778, John Todd, the great-uncle of Mary Todd, accompanied General George Rogers Clark to Illinois, and was present at the capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes. On the 12th of December, 1778, he was appointed by the Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry, County Lieutenant, or commandant of the county of Illinois, in the state of Virginia. In 1779, John Todd arrived at Kaskaskia and organized civil government under the authority of Virginia. It is a curious and interesting fact that the great-uncle of Mary Todd, afterwards wife of President Lincoln, should, in 1779, have been acting Governor of Illinois. He may be justly regarded as the founder of the state, a pioneer of progress, education, and liberty. He was killed at the battle of Blue Licks, on the 18th of August, 1782. His two brothers, Levi and Robert, settled in Lexington, Kentucky. Levi was the grandfather of Mary Todd, afterwards Mrs. Lincoln, and he was the only field officer at the battle of Blue Licks who was not killed. Such was the family and lineage of Mary Todd. When she came to visit her sister she was twenty-one years of age. Her mother died when she was a child, and she had been educated and well taught at a boarding school for young ladies at Lexington. She was intelligent and bright, full of life and animation, with ready wit, and quick at repartee and satire. Her eyes were a grayish blue, her hair abundant, and dark brown in color. She was a brunette, with a rosy tinge in her cheeks, of medium height, and form rather full and round.

The Edwards and the Stuarts were among the leading families in social life at the capital. Ninian W. Edwards was a lawyer of distinction. His father had been Chief Justice of Kentucky, and was the first Governor of the Territory of Illinois, holding the position from 1809 to 1818. He was the first senator from Illinois after its admission into the Union, and afterwards Governor of the State.

When Miss Todd came to Springfield, nearly all ambitious young men sought distinction at the bar and in public life. Young ladies sympathized with this ambition to an extent scarcely appreciated at the present day. This young Lexington belle was very ambitious, and is said to have declared on leaving Kentucky that she meant to marry some one who would be President. On her arrival at Springfield she met in Lincoln a man of bright political prospects, already popular, and the leader of his party; one who was regarded by her relations and connections as an intellectual prodigy. Lincoln, who had had his fancies, and his romantic passion for Anne Rutledge, now became the suitor of Miss Todd. His courtship was distinguished with the somewhat novel incident of a challenge to fight a duel.

At this time there was living at Springfield, James Shields, a gallant hot-headed bachelor, from Tyrone County, Ireland. Like most of his countrymen, he was an ardent democrat, and he was also a great beau in society. He had been so fortunate as to be elected Auditor of the State. Miss Todd, full of spirit, very gay, and a little wild and mischievous, published in the "Sangamon Journal," under the name of "Aunt Rebecca, or the Lost Townships," some amusing satirical papers, ridiculing the susceptible and sensitive Irishman. Indeed Shields was so sensitive he could not bear ridicule, and would much rather die than be laughed at. On seeing the papers, he went at once to Francis, the editor, and furiously demanded the name of the author, declaring that unless the name of the writer was given he would hold the editor personally responsible. Francis was a large broad man, and Shields was very thin, and slim, and the editor realized that with his great bulk it would be very unsafe for him to stand in front of Shields' pistol. He had plenty of stomach, but none for such a fight. He was a warm personal and political friend of Lincoln, aud knowing the relations between him and Miss Todd, in this dilemma he disclosed the facts to Lincoln, and asked his advice and counsel. He was not willing to expose the lady's name, and yet was extremely reluctant himself to meet the fiery Irishman on the field. Lincoln at once told Francis to tell Shields to regard him as the author.

The Tazewell Circuit Court, at which he had several cases of importance to try, being in session, Lincoln departed for Tremont, the county seat. As soon as Francis had notified Shields that Lincoln was the author of the papers, he and his second, General Whitesides, started in hot pursuit of Lincoln. Hearing of this, Dr. Merryman, and Lincoln's old friend Butler, started also for Tremont, "to prevent," as Merryman said, "any advantage being taken of Lincoln, either as to his honor, or his life." They passed the belligerent Shields and Whitesides in the night, and arrived at Tremont in advance. They told Lincoln what was coming, and he replied, that he was altogether opposed to duelling, and would do anything to avoid it that would not degrade him in the estimation of himself and of his friends, but if a fight were the only alternative of such degradation he would fight.

In the meanwhile, the young lady, having heard of the demand that Shields had made, wrote another letter in which she said: "I hear the way of these fire-eaters is to give the challenged party the choice of weapons, which being the case, I'll tell you in confidence, that I never fight with anything but broomsticks, or hot water, or a shovelful of coals, the former of which being somewhat like a shillala, may not be objectionable to him." This spirited and indiscreet young Kentucky girl, brought up where duelling was very common and popular, would undoubtedly have had the courage herself to meet the Irishman, with the usual weapon, the pistol, and, if public opinion had sanctioned it, would have enjoyed the excitement of the meeting.

While this badinage was going on, Shields had challenged Lincoln, and the challenge had been accepted. The weapons were to have been cavalry broad swords of the largest size, and the place of meeting was to have been on the west bank of the Mississippi, within three miles of Alton. The principals, and their seconds and surgeons, started for the place of meeting. As they approached the river, they were joined by Colonel Harden and others, who sought to bring about a reconciliation. Hostilities were suspended. Shields was induced to withdraw the challenge, and satisfactory explanations were made. Lincoln declared that the obnoxious articles were written "solely for political effect," and with "no intention of injuring the personal or private character of Shields," and so the parties returned reconciled. It is quite clear that no tragedy was intended by Lincoln. With very heavy broad swords, under the conditions of this meeting, Shields, who was a comparatively weak man, could not have injured Lincoln, and Lincoln would not have injured Shields. If the meeting had taken place, however, nothing but a tragedy could have prevented its being a farce.

The romance of fighting for the lady to whom he was making love, probably deepened Lincoln's devotion, and the chivalry and courage of Lincoln in so promptly stepping forward as her champion, could not but increase Miss Todd's admiration for and attachment to him, and their union soon followed. The hostile correspondence took place late in September, 1842, and, on the 4th of November thereafter, Lincoln and Miss Todd were married. Neither before nor after the challenge, had Lincoln any unkind feelings towards Shields, and later, during the war of the rebellion, Shields having proved himself a brave soldier in the war against Mexico, the President gave him all important military command.

After their marriage, Lincoln and his wife went to live in pleasant rooms, in a very comfortable hotel, called the "Globe Tavern," kept by Mrs. Bede, and about two hundred yards southwest of the old "State House," paying four dollars a week only for board and rooms. On one occasion shortly after her marriage, Mrs. Lincoln, speaking of a friend who had married an old but very rich man, said: "I would rather marry a good man, a man of mind, with bright prospects for success, and power, and fame, than all the horses, and houses, and gold in the world." In 1844, Mr. Lincoln purchased of the Rev. Nathan Dresser, a small but comfortable house, in which he lived until his election as President, and his removal to Washington.

There are few Congressional districts in the republic which have been represented by such a succession of distinguished men, as those who represented the Sangamon district from 1839 to 1850; beginning with John T. Stuart, who was in 1839 elected over Stephen A. Douglas, and served until March, 1843. In 1842, three very prominent men were the whig candidates, Lincoln, Edward D. Baker, and John J. Hardin. Baker carried the delegation from Sangamon County, and Lincoln was one of the delegates to the Congressional Convention, and was instructed to vote for Baker. He took his defeat with good humor, saying, when he tried to nominate Baker: "I shall be fixed a good deal like the fellow who is made groomsman to the man who cut him out, and is marrying his own girl." On this occasion Hardin, of Morgan County, was nominated and elected. In 1843, Baker was nominated and elected, and, in 1846, Lincoln was elected. Of these four members of Congress, Stuart alone survives, at the age of seventy-five years. The others all died by violence. Hardin was shot on the field of Buena Vista. Baker received a volley of bullets as he was leading his troops at Ball's Bluff, in Virginia, and Lincoln was assassinated.

Mr. Lincoln's opponent on the democratic ticket for Congress, was the celebrated Methodist circuit preacher, Peter Cartwright. The democrats supposed that the backwoods preacher would "run" far ahead of his ticket, and might beat Lincoln. But it fell otherwise; the "Sangamon Chief," as he was sometimes called, receiving a majority of sixteen hundred and eleven, a vote considerably greater than his party strength.

In 18'44, in the presidential contest between Clay and Polk, Lincoln, who had admired Clay from boyhood, was placed at the head of the electoral ticket, and canvassed with great zeal and ability, Illinois, and a part of Indiana for his favorite. In this campaign he again met the leaders of the democratic party, and especially Douglas, and added to his reputation as one of the ablest and most popular speakers of the Northwest. His chagrin and disappointment at the election of Polk was very great.

The partnership between Judge Logan and Lincoln was, on the 20th day of September, 1843, dissolved, and on the same day he formed a partnership with a young lawyer, William H. Herndon, a relative of one of his old Clary Grove friends, which partnership continued until his election as President.

A very amusing illustration of Lincoln's power to entertain in conversation was told the author by the late Judge Peck, who was present at the time. "As a boon companion," says Judge Gillespie, "Lincoln, though he never drank a drop of liquor, nor used tobacco in any form in his life, was without a rival." In June, 1842, after Mr. Van Buren had left the presidential office, he and the late Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Paulding, made a journey to the West, and visited Illinois. The party on their way to the capital were delayed by bad roads, and compelled to spend the night at Rochester, some miles from Springfield. The accommodations at this place were very poor, and a few of the ex-President's Springfield friends, taking some refreshments, went out to meet him, and try and aid in entertaining him. Knowing Lincoln's ability as a talker and narrator of anecdotes, they begged him to go with them, and aid in making their guest at the country inn pass the evening as pleasantly as possible. Lincoln, with his usual good nature, went with them, and, on their arrival, entertained the party for hours with graphic descriptions of Western life, bar anecdotes, and witty stories. Judge Peck, who was of the party, and then a democrat, and a warm friend of the ex-President, says that Lincoln was at his best, and adds: "I never passed a more joyous night." There was a constant succession of brilliant anecdotes and funny stories, accompanied by loud laughter in which Van Buren bore his full share. "He also," says the Judge, "gave us incidents and anecdotes of Elisha Williams, and other leading members of the New York Bar, and going back to the days of Hamilton and Burr--altogether there was a right merry time, and Mr. Van Buren said the only drawback upon his enjoyment was that his sides were sore from laughing at Lincoln's stories for a week thereafter."

During Lincoln's administration, John Van Buren, son of President Van Buren, and distinguished alike for his brilliant wit and his eloquence, visited Washington, and, dining with the President, the latter recalled and described to the son, the night which Van Buren and he had passed so pleasantly at the country inn on the prairies of Illinois.